Means for feeding alpha wire through alpha furnace



May 3, 1932. w. c. SUTTON 1,856,444

*y MENS FOR FEEDING A WIRE THROUGH A FURNACE l Filed Oct. l1, 1929 gwumto/o abbiam-@qd 10 the furnace.

Patented May 3, 1932 UNITED' STATES :PATENT "oi-"rice WALTER C. SUTTON, 0F `(BIJELAND HEIGHTS, OHIO, ASSIGN OR TO THE LINDSAY WIRE WEAVING COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, 14OHIO, yA CORPORATION OF OHIO MEAS FRFEDING A WIRE THROUGH A .FURNACE mppiicati'onmed october 11, 1.929. serial No. 398,865.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for -feeding yWiresthfrough an annealing furnace. Bronze wires which are :used in `vthe manufacture of belts 'for paper making 5 vmachinery .inust Ybe accurately annealed `so as Itofob'tain the=desireddegreefof elastici-ty and i hardness. @ne form 'of machine for accomplishing Athis result comprises an electric furfnace with guide tubes, which eX-tendthrough The Wires Which are to ibe anliea'l'eel are filled from a bobbin rack through the tubes, .and .are Wound on spools after they Vihi'ave passed through the furnace. The def'gree of 1heat,and,s}peed ofwire movement are `15 adjusted-to prod-ucea desired degree of temper, while Ethe vwire moves continuously through the furnace. Frequent-ly the Wire 4.breaks for is interrupted during the annealing operation. fOne cause Vfor the interruption of Wire movement is the fact that the spool will hold la imnchsmaller `quantity l'of wire 'than the bobbin. Another -cause isd-ue to the 'imperfections *wh-ichfmayffeXist in the Wire. 'Upon 25- the interruption of Wire movement through the furnace, the practice has been to Vattach 'the bobbin end of the broken Wire [to a fs'trai'ght 'Wire and A'then to feed the straight 'Wire through Athe tube. The intense heat of th'e fili-mace however, not onl;7 makes the feed Wire t'oo het ito handle with fthe bare hands, but -necessitates thereafter, a Withdrawal of thfe feed Wire, which obviously requires considerable time on the part of the operator, who normally is stationed only at the spoolend of the apparatus.

An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a method of feeding Wires lthrough an annealing furnace so as to overcome the difficulties and objections mentioned, and to facilitate the operation of the furnace so as to permit the continuous annealing of Wires in a satisfactory manner by only one operator. A further object is to provide an apparatus which may be easily used in existing furnace equipment.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an electric annealing furnace equipped With my invention; Fig. 2 is 50 a vertical section taken on the line 2-2 inv litiga 1; FigL visan enlarged View Apartly in section of the yapparatus adjacent the point vWhere'the Wires enter the furnace; and Fig. 4 'is a similar 'View yshowing the connection between the Wires after the point of connection has been movedslightly into the furnace tu e.

I have indicated in the dra-wings, the outv'li-ne -of an electric furnace vat 10 with a bobbin rack indicated in general at 11 at one Vend of the furnace, and a spool rack 12 at the opposite end of the furnace. The Wire to be annealed is passed from a bobbin into yone of the tubes 13 which extend through vthe furnace and project beyond each end thereof, and thence onto a spool on the Winding rack. rThe apparatus lis usually manipulated by one operator, who stands vat the Winding end and replaces the spools as soon jas they are filled. As the capacity of the bobbin is many times that of the spool, the attention yof the operator `at the bobbin end is only required for relatively short periods to replace the bobbins or to feed broken Wires 'through the tubes.

To feed the Wires, which are tobe annealed from the bobbin and through the furnace to a point 'Where they are accessible for attachment to spools, Without requiring the operator to leave the Winding end of the apparatus for an objectionable length of time, yand Without inconvenience to lthe operator, I provide a feeding Wire 15 in the nature of an endless belt, which extends through each "furnace tube, and thence back preferably beneath and outside the furnace. Each wire has tWo shoulders in the form of loops or seyes 16 and 17, through which the end of the Wire to be fed kthrough the furnace may be attached. Such attachment, as shown in Fig.

3, is effected by Alooping an end 18 through the eye 'and giving it a turn or tWo around itself, so as to hold it temporarily to the endless vvire While it is moving through the furnace. During such passage, the feed Wire is maintained taut by a tensioning device Which acts upon it outside the furnace. One form of such device comprises a guide sheave 20, which is mounted on an arm 21. The arm in yturn :may be lpivoted, as at v22, to the furnacev frame and above the lower reach of the belt whereby the weight of the arm and sheave acts automatically to maintain the desired degree `of tension upon the belt.

The material of which the endless wire is made must be able to withstand the highest heat at which ythe furnace is'operated, as part kof the wire remainsstationary in the fur-V nace until Yitis again required for feeding purposes. I have found that a nichrome Wire with nickel and 12% chromium and the balance iron isY suitable for the temperatureV of 1600 degrees F., at which the furnacel is normally operated.

While one part of the feeding wire is within the furnace vand is subjected tothe heat, the remaining part in the preferred form is exposed to the atmosphere, and hence is reasonably cool so that it may be easily handled by the operator during the feeding operation. In practice, oneV loop isr always near the bobbin end of the belt, where it is easily accessible for connection with the bobbin wire.

The operator then reaches'under the bank of wires, and. pulls the feeding wire until the loop at the opposite end is brought to the bobbin end of thermachine. The operator then passes to the opposite end of the furnace and moves theV bobbin wire and'attaches it to the spool,l This `entire procedure can vreadily be accomplished while the annealing operation is continued on the other wires.

By means of the present invention, the feeding or lead-in wire is always accessible for immediate use, and is capablefof being conveniently handled by the operator,'so as to complete the feeding oper-ation in a mini'- mum period of time.

Iclaim: f

l. In combination, a wireannealing furnace, means for moving the work to be annealed lrelatively fast through the furnace, an

, endless feed wire extending through the furnace, part ofthe feed wire being inside the furnace and'part being outside thereof, and the feed'wir-e being adapted to remain stationary while the lwork wire 1s moving through the furnace during 'the annealing operation, and means on the feed wire for attachingthe Ywork wire thereto, whereby the lwire extends through the furnace in substantial parallelism with the work wire and Y is compara-tively hot while the remaining portion extends outside the furnace and is comparatively cool, attaching one end to be annealed to the endless wire adjacent the inletend of thefurnace, whereby an operator may grasp the` comparatively cool partof the endless wire andthereby propelthe wire to be annealed through the furnace, and whereby the feed wire may remain stationary and disconnected from the work` wire, while the work wire isoin motion during. the annealing operation.

Ll. In combination, a wire annealing furnace, a bobbin at one end thereof, a wire winding device at the other end thereof, means for operating the winding device to propel wire from the bobbin through the furnace and onto said device, ,van endless feed wi re extending through the furnace and having a portion thereof extending substantially parallel to the path of the wire to be annealed, said feed wire having another portion thereof disposed outside the furnace and y being suficiently small that the outside portion is cool enough to handle while thefurnace is in operation, said endless wire being normally stationary but adapted selectively to engage the wire to be annealed, and to propel such wire through tliefurnace at the initiation of the annealing operation, and thereafter to remain stationaryv while fthe work wire is moving through the fur-nace.

In testimony'whereof, I hereunto affiXLmy si gna-ture. Y

WALTER. C. SUTTON.

work wire may-be threaded through the furnace. d 2. In combination, av wire annealing fur- A Y nace having a wire receiving tube extending therethrough, anlendless feed wire' having aVV portion thereofextending through the tube and having the remaining portion disposed outside the furnace,said wire having a plurality of shoulders -thereon for dividing it into two substantially equal parts,said shoulfders providin'gabutments for attachment i to theV end of a warp wire, whereby the feed wire maybe propelled through thefurnace for threading the'warp wire therethrough, 4the feed wire being adapted toremain st a- 

